NPCs have Unlimited SCBs?

Arguendo

Volunteer Moderator
Already been done, persisted for a long time through several patches. Finally supposedly fixed recently.

So yea, the NPCs were cheating. Doesn't matter if its a bug or not - they aren't following the rules.

So now we've established that NPCs do in fact cheat (even in not intended to be doing so), can you both shut up about how they don't and it's impossible?
No. Saying they cheat, means they are programmed to do something we players can't. They are not. You are confusing issues when you call it cheating.
Call them bugged if they are, but cheating means something entirely different.
 
high rank npcs have modded ships,and shield cells.You have to use burst to pop the bubble.Also destroying the shield generator is a good way to stop shileds going up again.

The CZ npcs are the toughest in game now,so they are 100% engineered,equipped for combat nowdays.
 
No. Saying they cheat, means they are programmed to do something we players can't. They are not. You are confusing issues when you call it cheating.
Call them bugged if they are, but cheating means something entirely different.
NPCs cannot cheat, I agree. They can be programmed to do what we cannot, and it looks the same as if a human player is cheating. For example, NPCs can raise shields instantly. You cannot. It's been that way all along. NPCs can escape mass lock regions that I cannot. NPCs can scan my cargo bay and send me a message the second I drop from hyperspace into a system. They can drop from my sensors then reappear while I am in supercruise, as if they dropped out of supercruise. They can drop out of supercruise right at the station entrance.

None of these things you can do but by your definition above they would be considered cheating. I don't consider it cheating, just interesting. They are predictable and as such we learn how to play around the nuances that would be labeled as cheating if a human player showed that ability (or a glitch or bug or exploit).

But NPCs don't cheat, we agree on that.
 
No. Saying they cheat, means they are programmed to do something we players can't. They are not. You are confusing issues when you call it cheating.
Call them bugged if they are, but cheating means something entirely different.

Nah. If that was the case the the G5 for G1 mats rolls wouldn't have been cheating, only a bug.

NPCs cheat, in several different ways. Sometimes its intended (such as magically appearing when you have cargo or a bounty 500 ly from the nearest populated system), sometimes it's not.
 
It doesn't matter if aberrant NPC behavior is programmed as intended or as not intended.
Given that we believe they are supposed to follow the same rules as players, when they don't it's a cheat.

Any observant player will see NPCs doing things that players cant in every session.
These things have been well documented over three years.

We understand that if they didn't, they would be even softer than they are, but there is no need to be in denial about it. NPCs have their own rules, by experience and observation in game, not just as some empty statement.
 
Even if I had one I probably wouldn't post it. I know it happened. I don't care if you believe me.

You identify an issue with the game, it obviously causes you some concern as you post about it, and yet you decide that even if you could help fix it .. you just wont?
 
You identify an issue with the game, it obviously causes you some concern as you post about it, and yet you decide that even if you could help fix it .. you just wont?

Apparently the fact that NPCs cheat causes you great concern. Maybe if you are so concerned you can go try to capture said behavior?
 
Apparently the fact that NPCs cheat causes you great concern. Maybe if you are so concerned you can go try to capture said behavior?

I've spent three years playing the game without observing the behaviour described in this thread regarding SCBs, so clearly I wouldn't be the best candidate to go and try to prove that claim (can't be a fact if you can't point to evidence showing your claim is factual).

If I were to go looking for evidence that NPCs have unlimited SCBs and found none, what shall I do next? Absence of proof is not proof of absence, so would I just keep looking indefinitely for something which I have no indication exists outside of the imagination of a bunch of random players who so far haven't shown a whole lot of critical thinking and aren't willing to put the efford into a simple bug report ?

Come on, use some common sense and go report it. And when Support asks if you can provide video footage, provide some. And if you can't, find out how to (at least partially) reliably reproduce the bug and provide Support with an exhaustive step by step.
And if you can do none of that...then what do you expect to happen? Support has hundreds if not thousands of bug reports to sift through, they're not going to give much credit to a random thread in Dangerous Discussions (actually they wont even read it).

If you want the issue fixed, contact support.

Now again I'm not affected by this issue, but you can be sure I'll call out nonsense when I see it. There is enough problems with the game without the need for misinformation (and at this point it even feels like disinformation) dilluting the real issues.
 
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sollisb

Banned
Was it 4 different Cobras? :p

Why would something survive long enough to fire off 36 chaff, anyway?

The cooldown cycle is like 30 seconds. So you're talking 18 minutes to kill a cobra. Lol

:D

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead


Cooldown of chaff? No way.. I've actually counted (in my head.. one thousand, two th...) and it;s more like 8-10 seconds. Absolutely nothing like 30 seconds.

On the subject of NPC AI. I think it's gotten worse. Especially in the HazRez, where they are basically there to allow us to ran up and earn credits. They fly at you with full chaff going, then boost way off while they regen, then they come boosting all the way back, more chaff. When you finally get their shields down they boost off and wake out.

Had an Elite Anaconda last night, one with those crazy hard shields. Took me ages to break them down. Then I went to work on his hull, got him to 8% and he boosted off and waked in a blink. I sat there thinking; 'why am I doing this at all'.

o7
 
I always thought SCBs had a cool down period. I’ve only ever flown with 1 or at most 2 SCBs which after I fire off take some time to recharge.
However, fighting Elite Pythons and Condas, I seen chain spamming of SCBs. Firing off one after another without about a second pause in-between. I’m not sure if this is possible as I’ve never tried it.
 
I always thought SCBs had a cool down period. I’ve only ever flown with 1 or at most 2 SCBs which after I fire off take some time to recharge.
However, fighting Elite Pythons and Condas, I seen chain spamming of SCBs. Firing off one after another without about a second pause in-between. I’m not sure if this is possible as I’ve never tried it.

Same and even though the conda had a heat sink, he never dumped it.
 
Remember when devs insisted that NPCs don't use FA Off, they just "manipulate pips to engines REALLY well"? Cause I do, all while vultures, asps and FDLs were keeping their guns at you in reverse even when you were boosting.

Thing is, NPC behaviour is heavily scripted. And sometimes that script ignores the actual capacities of the ship they are flying. Which is why there's been extreme examples going as far as NPCs firing Chaff without any launchers.
 
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